Explain why the attitude of the British Governments towards Germany changed in the years 1919-1924
Kirandeep Dhillon
Explain why the attitude of the British Governments towards Germany changed in the years 1919-1924
The British Government's attitude changed after the First World war because they tried to retain power and peace within Europe to ultimately avoid another war. As Germany went through the Treaty of Versailles they developed stronger links with the USSR which caused threat to Britain and therefore as foreign policy changed, so did the attitudes of the government.
At first the attitude of the British government after the First World War was that they wanted Germany to pay for the damage and get its fair share from the reparations of the Treaty of Versailles, 1919. However the government and Lloyd George also did not want to punish Germany too harshly; they should pay what they could reasonably afford. This was in order to retain trade links with them as this would only disadvantage British shipping if Germany was hit too hard. This attitude was furthered as the government did not want France to become a strong power and with Germany weakened due to their losses in the war, it meant that there was an uprising fear amongst the British Government about build up of power in France and also from the 'red scare' of Communist Russia. They ultimately wanted to retain a balance of power in Europe. On the other hand, the public opinion did not mirror that of the Governments'. Although a pacifist movement was becoming popular where many people did not want to create more war, many still wanted Germany to suffer immensely and take the total blame. This meant that although George wanted to retain a balance of power he still needed to comply with the public opinion to stay in government, therefore he did not object to the term that the defeated powers (Germany, Russia) would be excluded from the treaty formation and signing, and no objection was made to the demanding terms on the treaty itself such as the huge debt of $6.6 billion and loss of all Germany's colonies. This shows that the British Government wanted to carry a neutral attitude towards Germany but were pulled from different demands and had to give in to the harsh treaty, the British reaction to the treaty itself was negative as many pacifists felt it was also too harsh.
